Five Frugal Things | puzzles, for one!

It feels like it’s been a less-than-frugal week, but let’s see what I can come up with!

1. We watched Coco for free on Netflix.

I’d been wanting to watch this for a while and had considered going to see it when it was at the cheap theater. But we never got around to it, which is frugal in the end if you watch it on Netflix instead.

(Assuming you already have the Netflix account, which we did!)

2. We borrowed some puzzles from my parents.

Puzzles are one of those things that you sort of hate to buy because how often do you re-do them? So we are having fun doing puzzles that my parents already owned, because they’re new to Sonia and Zoe (my fellow puzzle-doers).

3. We made hobo pies with my sister and brother-in-law and their kids.

Which is much cheaper than eating out together! They own cast-iron hobo pie makers, which we use over the fire to make ham and cheese sandwiches and also a dessert version with pie filling in the middle.

4. I made a backup dinner when my tortellini was moldy.

I boiled a pot of water, opened the tortellini, and noticed blue spots that were definitely not supposed to be there.

(Is tortellini ever supposed to have blue spots? I think not.)

I was not about to serve moldy tortellini for dinner, but I didn’t want to get takeout either.

Luckily, we had a lot of eggs and also a fair amount of random bread. And a package of bacon.

So, bacon and French toast it was, with fresh mango on the side.

5. We are going to exchange a nail polish.

So, future frugality. Sonia picked out a shade of nail polish that looked promising, but it turned out to be not at all as advertised.

Luckily, we got it at Rite Aid, and they let you exchange cosmetics that are the wrong color/shade. So, we’ll stop by there when we’re nearby and get something that works better.

I really like the idea of having a puzzle exchange. You’re right–ehi wants to do the same puzzle over and over? Not sure if it helps with the tortellini, but I started buying the shelf stable dry version so it doesn’t go bad.

Let’s see, this week:
1. I harvested okra from the garden.
2. We went to Costco last night and shared their $1.50 ice cream as a treat. Bonus: we only bought what we needed! Oh, and I refilled our printer cartridges at their photo center. It’s half the cost of buying a new cartridge.
3. Tonight we’re eating at Jason’s Deli with a discounted gift card I bought online.
4. I’m wearing thrifted clothes.
5. I’m washing laundry with homemade soap.

Hooray! I was holding on to my Five Frugal Things from my husband’s birthday!
1. We used a movie gift card to see an early bird showing. I hadn’t notice there was a now expired concessions card with it. The nice young man gave us a free bucket of popcorn even though it was expired.
2. We stopped by the thrift shop since it was 25% off day and picked up several things we could use including a pair of shorts for him. At checkout, they gave us a coupon for 7.00 off 20.00 good for the next two days which worked since I had to have blood work done near there two days later.
3. He was born on National Cheesecake Day so we used a gift card to go to the Cheesecake Factory for a meal off the lunch menu and two pieces of half price cheesecake. I was out of pocket only a few dollars which included the tip.
4. We came home and watched a free library movie while halving one of the cheesecake slices.
5. My gifts to him were practical Home Depot gift cards to help with a railroad he’s building purchased after I sold a trash picked iron bed for the same amount. His other gift was a ‘blast from the past’. A wooden Volkswagon bus from Joann’s at 70% off which we’re painting to match the red, white and blue one he had in the 70’s!
Great birthday all around!

I don’t have five that I can think of right now, but we did have one BIG win this week! In SC, we are taxed yearly on the assessed value of our vehicles. We got our bill the other day, and “they” valued our 2005 Honda Odyssey with 212,000 miles at $7300!!! DH called to question it (and said “If that van were truly worth that much, I’d be selling it!”). The kind lady on the phone said to go to Kelly Blue Book online and print out the private owner resale price and then bring that paper when he went to pay the taxes. The value was less than half of what they’d said so our tax bill will decrease significantly! WIN!!!

1) We drove for five days–1,800 miles–and I fed six people breakfast, lunch, and dinner all that time from food I had brought with us. Every motel has a microwave, so I made things before we left, froze them, put them in coolers, and heated them up for dinner. We ate cereal and bagels for breakfast (or leftovers), sandwiches for lunch, and didn’t eat out once, other than some small treats like ice cream. I consider this one of my greatest accomplishments to date.

2) As soon as we got here, I started my sourdough bread and yogurt making up again.

3) I’m considering very hard what I actually need, and what I think I need. For instance, our stainless steel, cylindrical, step pedal kitchen garbage can got broken in the move. I thought I would have to buy a new one. But I started using a smaller, rectangular plastic one my husband had picked up for the bathroom–though it’s too big for a bathroom–and decided I would just keep using that. I kind of like that it’s smaller, so I have to change the bag out more frequently, and also the shape means the bags don’t get suctioned into the can and require the strength of Hercules to pull out.

4) This has nothing to do with me, but I got a notice from the school that donations for school supplies from community members resulted in parents only having to provide a backpack and snacks for their kids. This is amazing to me, but I suppose is a great benefit to a school that only has 50 students in grades Pre-K-12.

5) I was going to buy curtains for my bedroom–living in a village for the first time means there’s a horrible streetlight shining directly on my bed at night–but I found a box on the laundry room shelf in our new room that contains brand-new curtains. I don’t know if they were left by the previous tenant or our landlord, but I can use them.

Kristin I am in awe of your self-catering holiday prowess! that is so awesome. I am trying to increase my self-catering and you have inspired me to go even further – I recently began taking a thermos of tea to church to avoid buying one when I chat to people after the service – at $3.50 a pop that’s a lot of cash over the year

We haven’t gone to the movies in a really long time (maybe more than a year?). Part of the reason is that the tickets are expensive. Also, we can’t agree on what movie to watch together >_< I watch YouTube videos for free every day though. Gotta love free entertainment!

1. Still filling my chest freezer only when there are sales on what I want. It’s full now because I went overboard on the Whole Foods sausage sale.

2. Roommate didn’t cancel Prime membership when the price went up (oops), so we save a bit extra at Whole Paycheck.

3. Watching “Timeless” and “Orphan Black” on Prime Streaming. Since we’re stuck with Prime, I’m going to take advantage of it. (Note to roommate: it only saves money if we cancel something else instead … like cable TV. Ahem.)

4. Put my gym membership on hold for August since I will be away for almost half the month.

5. Took a class at my work gym for free, rather than near home for a fee. It kicked my butt so I want to do it again. Also for free, I’m running in the morning before work. (See #4, gym membership on hold.)

I love puzzles, though thus far my kids haven’t been very interested. And, I too have a chocolate one!

– For the first time since March we do not have sports during the dinner hour this week. (Brief interlude before they kick up again after Labor Day). We will eat at home. So, I planned all of them, including using up some random odds and ends we had.
– My $100 grocery trip netted 456 gas points.
– We’ve had a number of Air Quality and Heat Advisories warnings this week. We watched some movies for free on Netflix.
– My youngest is transitioning to the next clothing size. But, so far we’ve found plenty of options in the hand-me-down boxes.
– I fixed a toy we thought might not be salvaged.

We have been getting a ton of value out of our library this week, so my first 3 are library related:

1) borrowed a movie for family movie night rather than using the Redbox

2) took my kids to see Sherlock Gnomes yesterday afternoon while it was raining, they love watching the movie on the big screen at the library and free popcorn!

3) borrowed a county parks pass from the library. We are going to use it to go the zoo today and local nature center tomorrow.

Non-library related

4) After much discussion and debated we have decided to stay in our current home vs moving. Our home’s value has significantly increased and we have been torn between moving or doing needed/wanted updates.

5) All of our kids need to wear uniforms for the first time this year (they are starting a new school), we were able to get a good amount of clothes from the schools uniform exchange/donation program.

1. Wanted to renew my Sam’s Club membership. I knew there was a coupon out there for a free gift card upon renewal, but i didn’t have one, so i asked around for one & a friend gave me one, thus reducing the cost on membership $15.
2. Friends of us gifted us with a window unit air conditioner. Yay!
3. Had an empty dog food bag that I repurposed as a garbage bag, thus saving a bag for another time.
4. Girls wanted ice cream. Hubby & i took them to the store instead where we got 3 half gallons for $10 & 2 boxes of cones. I think we got at least 20+ cones from this purchase of $13 versus going out for ice cream one time. Girls were surprised how far this treat stretched out.
5. a coworker gifted me 5 zucchinis from her garden.

Your #5 makes me think of a joke, told around this time of year:
Q: Why do Minnesotans lock their cars in August (but not much of the rest of the time)?
A: So their neighbors don’t slip them yet more zucchini in the backseat.

It’s so funny, because just this week I suggested puzzles as a gift for me for Christmas (we start giving out lists early in this family) I actually will sometimes do a puzzle more than once, but we know a cancer center that keeps puzzles out for people waiting on treatment, to occupy their time, so we will donate to them when we’re done with the puzzles.
1. I made another five gallons of laundry soap.
2. My husband loves cucumbers and I don’t like them at all, so when I cut one for him, it’s a challenge to use it up before it gets icky, if it’s a large cucumber. I put the peeled slices that were left into the leftover vegan coleslaw “juice” after draining the last of the cole slaw out of it. He loved them, and the vinegar and oil slaw dressing helped keep them fresh longer.
3. I made homemade stain remover out of Dawn and hydrogen peroxide, from recipes on the internet. So far, it’s worked great and is a lot less pricey than store bought stain remover sprays.
4. I wore a pair of pantyhose this week that I don’t wear much, because they are very high-waisted, to serve as a sort of Spanx-pantyhose combination, and I just don’t need that very often. I realized suddenly that I bought them to wear under a slinky-knit dress to the wedding of a friend — nine years ago. I think that’s a pantyhose record. Still no runs, so I washed them and put them back in the drawer.
5. I saved the price of a stamp by straightening out a rebate I’d sent in, by calling on the phone instead of mailing the information they said they needed (but actually didn’t).

Regarding puzzles, I buy them at my local thrift shop. They sell for 50¢ – $1.00 depending on the number of pieces. When I am done with the puzzle I donate it back to the thrift shop. Win – win! Also, my dollar store sells puzzles, and I have occasionally seen them at used book sales.

If you need something else to watch on Netflix, my daughter really enjoyed Mary and the Witch’s Flower. It’s made by people who used to work at Studio Ghibli.

Anyway, here’s my list:

1.) Bought a whole chicken at $0.69/lb on sale. I roasted it and we ate roast chicken for two days then took the leftovers and made stir fry. Unfortunately I didn’t have quite enough soy sauce as I thought but I made it work.

2.) Using some discounts to buy some things that I was planning on buying anyway.

3.) Making it a point to make lunch for my wife daily.

4.) Drinking less soda and trying to drink more water.

5.) Not spending money, really. July was a really bad month for me, finally speaking. So we’ve been more or less just trying to be bare bones as much as we can since there’s some expenses coming up at the end of the month as well.

1. Eating out of the garden and keeping to my once a week grocery trip. I spend soooo much more if I go to the store multiple times.
2. I’m in the process of cleaning out my closet and have decided to go on a clothing freeze for the next 6 months to a year. It will be a fun challenge and so far as I can see I don’t ‘need’ anything else.
3. Started taking inventory of already purchased gifts and started my Christmas gift budget.
4. Managed to stay on top of the leftovers and repurpose them before they went bad! (This is not an area of strength so yay me!)
5. Got some fantastic new to me books at the Friends of the Library book sale.

1. I found enough school supplies while cleaning out the basement that I won’t have to buy much at all for my son- only the extras that his specialized classes require.

2. I found some toiletries in my husband’s boxes in the basement, which is pretty awesome, considering he was almost out of deodorant.

3. I found a bunch of packages of new batteries while cleaning out the basement (are you sensing a theme here yet?).

4. I needed some containers to store my husband’s (scattered all over the basement), and while going through some of his boxes, I found a Walmart gift card. Score! I used that to buy the storage containers and now the tools and home improvement accessories are less messily contained.

5. I saved someone else money by putting all those boxes I emptied in the basement on Freecycle. She picked them up within hours, which made both of us happy!

1. Picked veggies from my parents’ garden while they were on vacation last week. Their cucumbers taste better than ours and we’ve been eating a lot of them. I also froze some green peppers for future fajitas.
2. Got am awesome deal on blueberries and strawberries on Monday. I’ve frozen half of the blueberries and the rest won’t have a problem getting eaten before they go bad.
3. That same produce store had all the corn on the cob you could fit in a bag (any size bag) for $1! I fit 44 in my bag. We ate some, I gave some away, and I’m planning to freeze some.
4. I was hoping for a grilled chicken salad for dinner tonight, but when it became apparent that would be too ambitious for today I grabbed some chicken nuggets out of the freezer instead of asking my husband to pick up a pizza.
5. Breastfeeding my baby. Freeeeeeeee!

Just got back from a 2 night trip to Niagara Falls, so here’s mine, Niagara style:
1. We stayed in our tent at a very nice Koa, instead of a hotel, just over $100 for both nights combined for 2of us.
2. We bought a 48 hour bus pass. The bus picked us up right in front of the Koa and dropped us off at the falls. We didn’t have to pay parking. Then we walked a lot, from Canada to the USA and back. Bus pass $8 each, $16 total.
3. We paid for very little of the tourist things, just upside down house (about $12 each) and $1.25 each for the observation deck and elevator down to bottom of falls.
4. We resisted food close to the falls. We were so hungry, but $13 a person? We waited until we left the area and filled up on food at a fast food joint.
5. My biggest tip, if you go, enjoy the falls!! Pay a little to walk across the bridge and see both sides, it’s fun to see different views. Go at night too for the colorful lights and fireworks (check schedule). It’s beautiful even if you can’t afford to see it from a boat or helicopter, or dinning from a tower.

1. When I dropped my son off at the grocery store he works at I noticed the one a mile further was having a weekend meat sale ( I generally do not shop at either of these stores)… I was thrilled with the selection and pricing of the meat this time and snagged some great deals….

2. immediately broke down 3 huge packages of ground beef.. 3 1lb bags for super fast *hamburger helper* meals for crazy nights, a tray of hamburg patties that I flash froze, a 2lb bag flattened for easy freeze for future meat loaf and then I mixed a huge batch of meatballs.. I baked those for 30 minutes to get a good amount of grease off them, cooled them and froze in baggies.. This will hopefully help with the back to school/back to volleyball and a kid with a job chaos!

3. Took daughter to local VB gym to buy new shoes from them, ( supports local business and pricing is a tad cheaper than local sport stores).. was getting ready to try on the latest version and we notice the clearance rack… it was the version of the show she currently has but huge markdown… they actually had a 12 on the rack in a complementary color pattern! She chose those as she gets that we put a lot of money into this sport! ( these specific VB shoes are specially padded for jumping and landing- no foot or shin pain issues).

4. Our Anniversary is this weekend. We are splurging on a fancy dinner ALONE, but are using points from his work travels for a hotel night and apparently a weekend of free fancy car rental lol.. Buy kids.. be nice to grandma!

5.I let husband take son to work the other day.. which saved me a bit of money b/c I was going to go back to the other store and use their digital coupons to buy unnecessary stuff like ice cream and treats! lol

1. I have been having awesome luck at finding new books to read at the library, which of course makes me feel very happy and content for zero dollars
2. Took the kids out to McDonald’s with forgotten Christmas gift cards
3. Still scavenging around the house for unique meals to put together because my husband is traveling and the ones left behind are not picky:)
4. I am currently in a no spend week which is helping my monthly budget to stay in check
5. I earned a movie ticket and a free sandwich by simply giving blood, which makes me feel good on many different levels

This must be puzzle week! We just finished up a 3000 piece one and I am very happy to have my kitchen table back! As far as frugal wins, this has not been my best week but here goes my small successes:
1: I bought 5 lbs of ground beef that was at 50%- short shelf life. I made up spaghetti sauce and meatballs and put them in the freezer.
2: We are eating at home inspite of a heat wave and ZERO desire to cook.
3: I weeded out all the closets and have been washing/bleaching and mending clothes that can still be worn. The rest have been given to charity.
4: …sort of frugal but expensive. We had repairs done on our Prius for 1,000 dollars but on the other hand the car is inexpensive to run and insure.
5: I have been bringing a water bottle everywhere so not tempted to buy beverages.

Hopefully getting back on a regular school year schedule will help make choosing frugal options a bit easier.

I feel like I am frugal in some minor ways, spendy in others…but here goes:
I patched a pr of favorite shorts before sewing on a butt button (hate those) that had gotten caught and ripped off,
I used some wrinkly potatoes and scraps of cheese to make some great mashed potatoes,
Made my own BBQ sauce with scraps of hot wing sauce, ketchup, and a touch of brown sugar- that is going on our pork chops tonight,
and am in the process of cancelling the $30 renewal fee for a house alarm we haven’t activated in years. Better late than never!

1. Went to a wedding this past weekend – my husband, son and I all wore outfits and shoes we already owned, no new items purchased.
2. I also did my own hair, nails and make-up for the wedding (and I often spend money on manis/pedis for special occasions).
3. Picked cucumbers from my small home garden and ate them as a side dish with dinner last night.
4. Borrowed an ebook from my library (love that I can download books for a two week period onto my e-reader)
5. While not really frugal, I see it as a big money saver…..we got a second estimate for a large car repair (our compressor/AC unit broke in our Subaru, in addition to needing new brakes and tires). The local repair shop was $1,000 less than the dealer’s price.

Dealer prices are crazy expensive. I am looking for a new donut wheel for my car. The dealership wants $450 for it! I paid only $325 for my new tires, mounting, and balancing. I have a spare tire; I’m thinking of buying a second-hand rim and keeping the thing in my trunk, even though that would seriously cut into my trunk space.

Yay, puzzles! In the last city I lived, there was a puzzle exchange group that met at the public library once a month. Everyone brought their puzzles that they’d already done, and swapped them for some “new” ones :). If any had missing pieces, they’d write it on the box as fair warning, but most were complete and in great shape. A great way to feed the puzzle addiction without spending tons of money.

1. Got fairly big fresh shrimp with the heads on for only $3.50 lb. I ordered 20 lbs, knowing these local (i.e. knowing an actual shrimper and going in on a big buy with friends) deals only come around every once in a blue moon. Took my cooler to his truck and he dumped in the 20 lbs and some free ice.
2. Spent the evening popping off the heads and freezing the shrimp in water. Frugal because it would have cost me an extra dollar a lb to get them to pop off their heads. Noone would join me in the head popping though.
3. Lots of meetings at work, but they have been providing lunch.
4. Eating leftovers from allthefamilycompany that was here. Interesting combinations of food for dinners now.
5. Taking my own water to work, no plastic bottles, no soda.

1)We went to the State Fair last night (never a low budget endeavor because FAIR FOOD!) because we received tickets with our son’s art entry. So, at least the tickets were free with the purchase of that entry, which was happening whether we got tickets or not. We haven’t been in several years so we tried all kinds of fun food and shared to keep costs down…but that part was still not at all frugal.
2) Finally got my work truck re-insured after a snafu with the paperwork. It saves me untold amounts in gas everyday.
3) Talked myself out of buying new uniform shirts 3x this year. We will need them next year but I bought them in charcoal gray specfically because they could fade a bit with only my husband and I noticing. It is turning out to be true. I can tell but my mom says she can’t. I line dry them to extend their usable life. I am wondering about dying them? They are embroidered, too.
4) Cut the grocery budget by $400 a month and we are struggling a bit…but we still manage to eat at every meal. $800 a month isn’t much with a teenage boy on a special diet and 3 other guys to feed in addition, but we are fine.
5) Mended my son’s favorite comforter, “Greenie”, much to his joy and relief. This isn’t just frugal, it is a heart thing.

Just got back from a 2 night trip to Niagara Falls, so here’s mine, Niagara style:
1. We stayed in our tent at a very nice Koa, instead of a hotel, just over $100 for both nights combined for 2of us.
2. We bought a 48 hour bus pass. The bus picked us up right in front of the Koa and dropped us off at the falls. We didn’t have to pay parking. Then we walked a lot, from Canada to the USA and back. Bus pass $8 each, $16 total.
3. We paid for very little of the tourist things, just upside down house (about $12 each) and $1.25 each for the observation deck and elevator down to bottom of falls.
4. We resisted food close to the falls. We were so hungry, but $13 a person? We waited until we left the area and filled up on food at a fast food joint.
5. My biggest tip, if you go, enjoy the falls!! Pay a little to walk across the bridge and see both sides, it’s fun to see different views. Go at night too for the colorful lights and fireworks (check schedule). It’s beautiful even if you can’t afford to see it from a boat or helicopter, or dinning from a tower.

My little guy had his tonsils out last Friday, so we’ve been staying in a lot more than normal. Here goes my five:
1. Our basement flooded a bit after a horrendous rain storm last week, thankfully, with quick action and some fans and our dehumidifier…nothing was ruined. Our fear was that we would have to replace some of the carpet.
2. Hubby had found eggs on clearance at the store and bought a ton. Low and behold, the one thing that my little guy is eating while he’s recovering is eggs!! Didn’t want any of the ice cream we bought for him, just hard boiled eggs.
3. I was paid for a review that I wrote of a product (from back in June!).
4. Yesterday I brought some odds and ends to work for lunch and was quite proud of myself when I realized I could take the peaches, yogurt and some granola that I had in my desk to make myself a nice parfait (couldn’t do that again if I tried)
5. The insurance company pulled through and finally totalled my husbands truck. With the money we received we were able to put down a much larger than normal amount and finally get a truck!!

1.farm sat for a friend for two days and got to keep all the fresh veggies, eggs, and flowers we harvested. Plus got to feed the farm animals (always a fun thing) and enjoy some time in The beautiful country (we live in the city.).
2. Used a $10 off of $10 coupon my mom sent me to get myself a new summer top and two Yanker Candle votives.
3. Packed food to eat at our 4-H fair since the only alternative is fast food.
4. Was able to find khaki pants at a thrift store ($5) for my son to wear for his 4-H
Competitions.
5. Made wonderful cucumber salad with all the cukes we picked at the farm and also ate a ton of tomatoe and mayo sandwiches!
6. Traded rabbit manure (compost) for a small green house.

1. I always take my own bottle of water everywhere; but I actually love tap water and don’t like soda
2. Took tea in a thermos to church & plan to do this ongoing – saves $3.50 a pop
3. I take nut bars with me everywhere so if I get hungry I’m less tempted to buy snacks and if I do I often just buy a banana
4. we only have a combined fridge freezer at the moment & the freezer does not work great – only keeping bread in there at present so finding good cheap meals hard to do but started eating oatmeal for brekky and got a heap of individual soups tuna for work lunches on super specials
5. Got an unexpected large rebate for an essential bill and put it straight on to my debt

1. I have been borrowing from the library again. I should do this more regularly.
2. I have made a grocery plan and am sticking to it. So Have only purchased potato, mandarins, bread and milk for this week.
3. Cooking from home and from all the veg I bought last week.
4. I cancelled a class. I will have to catch up but I am having issues with my right arm.
5. Last weekend I bought bags of milled yarn reduced from $10 to $6. I have heaps to knit for charity and I am happy about that.

Welcome! The Frugal Girl is all about cheerfully living on less. Read more about me and subscribe to get my posts in your inbox.

I earn commission on purchases through Amazon links.

Looking for something? Search here!

Hang out with me on social media!

Archives

Archives

Categories

Categories

The Frugal Girl is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.